(NOTE: This instructional guide is intended to produce droplets of water falling from the sky, NOT dollar bills. For more on the monetary version of Making it Rain, please see the entry on Jones, Pacman 1A as a lesson on how to Make it Rain (Selectively).)

Step 1: Select a book you’d like to read.

Step 2: Take said book and any awake children left in your charge outside.

Step 3: (Optional, but further guarantees presence of rain) Water your garden.

Step 4: Sit down. Rain should commence within 30 seconds if it did not already begin during Step 3.

How to Make it Stop Raining

Step 1: Take your unread book indoors. You have completed this “How to Make it Stop Raining” Guide!

I have pictures of knitting, the kiddo, and the garden, but flickr and our new internet are not friendly. The new internet makes me curse a boatload.

Dax and I spend many mornings picking raspberries and poking around the backyard before it gets hot. A few days ago, the sky was a little overcast and the light was just perfect for taking some close-ups of all our little treasures.

I love the colors of these plums that fall to the ground. Some have this great purpley color underneath a dusty mauve layer that covers the fruit.

Sunday we went to Loveland’s Benson Sculpture Garden to photograph Firecracker. It was HOT, but the park was a beautiful, shady location to snap some photos and keep Dax occupied too.

I’m finding that patternwriting is difficult to do at the end of the day (especially when one’s sleep has been interrupted by a teething almost-two-year-old) so I think I need to have some dedicated work time outside of the house this weekend. The pattern is really straightforward and should be easy to size, I just need a little more focus!

After that, I will be sending the photos and pattern to a wonderful graphic designer friend and I hope to have the pdf available on Ravelry soon!

I’ve been working on a design to release independently; it’s almost done, so here’s a sneak peek:

I’ll post the pattern pics as soon as we shoot them-hopefully next weekend! I’m really excited about this design–it’s cute, easy, and pretty.

Look at these cute heart-shaped leaves from our rosebush! I have no idea how that happened; the whole plant is weird. It was here when we moved in and was always just bushy. This year though, it stared shooting up all these vines with different foliage.

I’m resisting the urge to start a small shawl. I just feel like knitting more lace! I do have yarn ready to go for a big monster for Dax, and he deserves a treat.

Almost a year ago, I got an email from Derrick’s cousin Cody about a business he was starting up. He had heard that I am a knitwear designer, and was looking for someone to knit up a prototype for a product idea.

As you may or may not know, the University of Nebraska football team is called the Cornhuskers (informally the “Huskers”). Cody came up with a hand gesture he dubbed the “corn finger” that fans can do to show their support–by holding your hand up, fingers together, and bending your pinky, your hand resembles a partially husked cob of corn. The first product was a giant foam hand giving the corn finger gesture.

So, seeing as how many football games are played in cold weather, Cody wanted to produce a mitten with a separate pinky so that fans could still throw up their corn finger while staying warm! Here’s what I came up with:

And now they are being manufactured! Some changes were made due to gauge and to streamline the process I imagine, but it’s a thrill to see something I knit being made available for sale! Go Huskers!

To see the mittens and other CornFinger products, visit their site at cornfinger.com.

When Ann Budd asks you to contribute to something she’s working on, there’s a really good chance you’ll get to be part of something special. Knitting Green, Ann’s latest book, is one special something that I’m proud to be a part of. And I’m absolutely honored to have one of my projects on the cover (Eco Vest, shown above).

The Eco Vest is truly one of my favorite designs. I love the way the textures all work together; cables, garter stitch, and elongated slipped stitches finished off with a nice fat ribbed border and collar. With no shaping to worry about, the vest is easy to work and can be worn open, with a button as shown, or with a shawl pin or stick. And the yarn! Cascade Eco-Wool is a dream yarn for green knitters. It is smooth, strong, and durable without being chemically processed or dyed. Once washed, the yarn has this wonderful bloom and is a perfect match for cables and stockinette alike. And it comes in big fat affordable skeins. I love the jumbo skeins; they just make me happy!

I also designed the Better Baby Rattle. Dax was the inspiration for this one (quelle surprise, non?). When he was really tiny, he had a hard time holding on to traditional rattles, but he had one kind of oval-shaped one that he loved. Only problem, it was hard plastic and he ended up hitting himself in the head a lot! So I wanted to create a soft toy that even the littlest could enjoy.

This is a great gift project involving some simple shaping and short rows, and you could create all sorts of different characters by changing the embroidery. The Plymouth Oceanside Organic is a smooth and sturdy cotton that will stand up to drool and play. You could easily turn one out in an evening the night before a baby shower or while waiting for a new baby to come home!

I hope you enjoy Knitting Green as much as I do. I’m the caboose on this blog tour, so stop by the previous participant’s blogs if you haven’t yet!